Pascal Pia (15 August 1903,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
- 27 September 1979, Paris), born Pierre Durand, was a French writer, journalist, illustrator and scholar. He also used the pseudonyms Pascal Rose, Pascal Fely and others.
Childhood and Adolescence
After the death of his father in 1915 during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Pia's mother had to work by herself. Pia decided to move away at the age of 14 and begin a new life in Paris.
Later works
In 1922 he published the erotic work ''Les Princesses de Cythère''. His ''La Muse en rut'', a collection of erotic poems, appeared in 1928. He also illustrated erotic works, such as the
Songs of Bilitis. In 1938 he founded the leftist journal ''
Alger républicain'' in
Algiers
Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...
(which was part of the
French colony of Algeria at the time). The journal was forbidden in 1939. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Pia participated in the
French Resistance
The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
(in the group "Combat") and in 1944 he became chief editor of the clandestine resistance journal ''Combat'', using the pseudonym Pontault. He said "We will try to make a reasonable newspaper. And as the world is absurd, it will fail."
Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...
worked as a journalist at the ''Alger républicain'' and later also at ''Combat''. Pia and Camus became friends, and Camus dedicated his 1942 essay ''
The Myth of Sisyphus
''The Myth of Sisyphus'' () is a 1942 Philosophy, philosophical work by Albert Camus. Influenced by philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurdism, absurd. T ...
'' to Pia. A collection of their correspondence was published in 2000. Pascal Pia was also a good friend of
André Malraux
Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...
.
Pia was a member ("Satrape") of the
Collège de 'pataphysique. He often expressed
absurdist and
nihilistic
Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that life is meaningless, that moral values are baseless, and that knowledge is impossible. Thes ...
sentiments. At the end of his life, he claimed the "right to nothingness", prohibiting others from writing about him after his death.
Selected books written or edited by Pascal Pia
* ''Les Princesses de Cythere: Chronique Libertine de l'Histoire'' (Jean Fort, 1922)
* ''La Muse en rut et autres poèmes'' (1928)
* ''
Baudelaire par lui-même'' (1952)
* ''
Apollinaire
Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Polish descent.
Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the early ...
par lui-même'' (1954)
* ''
Baudelaire'' (Biography translated by Patrick Gregory,
Grove Press
Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United S ...
, 1961)
* ''Les livres de l'Enfer: bibliographie critique des ouvrages érotiques dans leurs différentes éditions du XVIe siècle à nos jours'' (1978)
he Books of the "Enfer:" Critical Bibliography of Erotic Works in their Different Editions from the Sixteenth Century to the Present
* ''Poemes et textes retrouvés'' (1982)
* ''Correspondance avec Albert Camus'' (2000)
Books and articles about Pascal Pia
* ''Pascal Pia'' by
Jean José Marchand, Paris 1981
* ''Pascal Pia, ou, Le droit au néant'' by
Roger Grenier, Paris 1989
* ''Pascal Pia, ou, L'homme libre (1903–1979)'', by Michaël Guittard, dissertation Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 1999
* ''Bibliophilie: Pascal Pia, le clandestin'' by J -B Baronian, ''MAGAZINE LITTERAIRE'', no. 375, (1999)
References
External links
Catalogue of books edited or written by Pascal PiaPascal Pia by Michaël Guittard.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pia, Pascal
1903 births
1979 deaths
French Resistance members
20th-century French illustrators
French erotic artists
French magazine editors
French magazine illustrators
French male non-fiction writers
20th-century French journalists
20th-century French male writers